S&W 500 range accident

[richc]

I only put one round in my 500 and 460 for anyone that shoots them for the first time.

I do the same for the lowly .44 mag. Either one round, or one round skip a round. And I've seen several shooters double tap the revolver.

Or in many cases I don't offer the opportunity at all. Some folks I bring, IMHO, are not prepared for that experience.

 

[Woodstone]

Best practice...FIRST TIME with ANY GUN...ONE ROUND, PERIOD...ALWAYS!

Maybe this is only taught to those of us who purchase/actually fire C&Rs - it should be a standard?

Fully disassemble, clean, reassemble, lube, made sure the action is smooth and the barrel is clear, and then first time out is ONE ROUND!

Sometimes it is then two rounds, etc. working up to the point you can determine the gun works properly, is safe to fire, and you have control of it.

At that point for any C&R, it is game on.

Everyone should also apply this to builds and even trying out a friend's toy...ONE ROUND...you might have no idea he hid a super charger in it!

My humble $0.02.

 

[wmassregulators]

I will admit I doubletapped a 329pd and it scared the crap out of me. I hate these youtube videos that show obviously inexperienced shooters hurting themselves while the people around sit back and laugh. It reflects poorly on every one of us who want to introduce new people to shooting.

 

[Quiet]

My rule:

One round ALWAYS first time for EVERY GUN that a shooter shoots for the first time. Myself included. One round. ALWAYS.

Just went through this last weekend with my great nephew, first time shooting. 1 round at a time until he demonstrated proficiency with the MKIII.

Later he got to shoot the .45. One round. Reminders on stance and grip.

I relearned this with wifey a few months ago. At the end of the day at the range she expressed interest in shooting something larger than .22. She got one round in the .45 (even though she shot it maybe 6 months before). Apparently she had gotten lazy with the .22 and I neglected to remind her about stance and grip and the barrel of the 1911 said hello to her forehead. Thankfully, only one round was loaded (and it was just a light tap, no lump or bruise).

I won't make that mistake again: One round, AND reminders on stance and grip.

That's my (new) rule, hate away.

 

[whatluck]

I will admit I doubletapped a 329pd and it scared the crap out of me. I hate these youtube videos that show obviously inexperienced shooters hurting themselves while the people around sit back and laugh. It reflects poorly on every one of us who want to introduce new people to shooting.

This is really sad. The moron who brought her to the range was responsible for her safety.

I have a 329pd and followthrough is very important!

No different than a 460/500.

 

[EddieCoyle]

I will admit I doubletapped a 329pd and it scared the crap out of me. I hate these youtube videos that show obviously inexperienced shooters hurting themselves while the people around sit back and laugh. It reflects poorly on every one of us who want to introduce new people to shooting.

True. Even if you put only one round in the cylinder and provide instruction, you still need to be on the lookout. The other failure mode with these guns is that people end up creasing their skull with the front sight.

There's a technique to shooting these where you lock your wrists and let your elbows and shoulders raise up with the recoil (for a good example, watch how Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry shoots his magnum).

You've got to be on your game when someone with little or no magnum experience is shooting one of these. If I think someone is going to have a hard time with it, in addition to the one-round thing, I'll put my hand above their head, just outside of their peripheral vision.

LenS took the picture below at one of the GOAL shoots at HSC. The girl shooting was (is?) a girlfriend of a member here, and she'd done pretty well with 9mm and 45 ACP handguns, so I let her try my .460 Magnum. That's me in the red shirt. I had a funny feeling right before she shot so I put my hand up. My hand and the gun arrived above her head at the same instant. The front sight hit my thumb hard enough to draw blood.

 

[ColdDayInHell]

My rule:

One round ALWAYS first time for EVERY GUN that a shooter shots for the first time. Myself included. One round. ALWAYS.

That's my rule as well.

 

[Quiet]

True. Even if you put only one round in the cylinder and provide instruction, you still need to be on the lookout. The other failure mode with these guns is that people end up creasing their skull with the front sight.

There's a technique to shooting these where you lock your wrists and let your elbows and shoulders raise up with the recoil (for a good example, watch how Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry shoots his magnum).

You've got to be on your game when someone with little or no magnum experience is shooting one of these. If I think someone is going to have a hard time with it, in addition to the one-round thing, I'll put my hand above their head, just outside of their peripheral vision.

LenS took the picture below at one of the GOAL shoots at HSC. The girl shooting was (is?) a girlfriend of a member here, and she'd done pretty well with 9mm and 45 ACP handguns, so I let her try my .460 Magnum. That's me in the red shirt. I had a funny feeling right before she shot so I put my hand up. My hand and the gun arrived above her head at the same instant. The front sight hit my thumb hard enough to draw blood.

Awesome dude. Awesome.

 

[Harpua]

True. Even if you put only one round in the cylinder and provide instruction, you still need to be on the lookout. The other failure mode with these guns is that people end up creasing their skull with the front sight.

There's a technique to shooting these where you lock your wrists and let your elbows and shoulders raise up with the recoil (for a good example, watch how Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry shoots his magnum).

You've got to be on your game when someone with little or no magnum experience is shooting one of these. If I think someone is going to have a hard time with it, in addition to the one-round thing, I'll put my hand above their head, just outside of their peripheral vision.

LenS took the picture below at one of the GOAL shoots at HSC. The girl shooting was (is?) a girlfriend of a member here, and she'd done pretty well with 9mm and 45 ACP handguns, so I let her try my .460 Magnum. That's me in the red shirt. I had a funny feeling right before she shot so I put my hand up. My hand and the gun arrived above her head at the same instant. The front sight hit my thumb hard enough to draw blood.

Good looking out, EC. +1

 

[atilla]

True. Even if you put only one round in the cylinder and provide instruction, you still need to be on the lookout. The other failure mode with these guns is that people end up creasing their skull with the front sight.

There's a technique to shooting these where you lock your wrists and let your elbows and shoulders raise up with the recoil (for a good example, watch how Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry shoots his magnum).

You've got to be on your game when someone with little or no magnum experience is shooting one of these. If I think someone is going to have a hard time with it, in addition to the one-round thing, I'll put my hand above their head, just outside of their peripheral vision.

LenS took the picture below at one of the GOAL shoots at HSC. The girl shooting was (is?) a girlfriend of a member here, and she'd done pretty well with 9mm and 45 ACP handguns, so I let her try my .460 Magnum. That's me in the red shirt. I had a funny feeling right before she shot so I put my hand up. My hand and the gun arrived above her head at the same instant. The front sight hit my thumb hard enough to draw blood.

good catch.

as always, props for you to be so generous with your firearms and ammo.

 

[Hoover]

Maybe in a more gun friendly state the fact that you just killed one of your friends is punishment enough? I don't know what I would do if that happened to one of my friends while at the range with me. I wouldn't be right for the rest of my life.

Yeah, try to get that image out of your head. It would be like a neon sign in my mind, no matter what I thought about, closed my eyes or whatever, it would be very vivid.

What else would this person think of? Maybe take their 16 yr old new driver niece for their first drive in a Ferrari? A little common sense helps. Very sad.

 

[EddieCoyle]

What else would this person think of? Maybe take their 16 yr old new driver niece for their first drive in a Ferrari?

Don't judge. Nobody thinks they're inexperienced if they've been shooting for a while. These guns are different. This is almost certainly an accident born out of the inexperience of both the gun owner and shooter. There but for the grace of God go I.

 

[Apathesis]

Terrible news.

I guess I learned something today about handling this beastly weapon, but I don't think I'll ever fire one.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Terrible news.

I guess I learned something today about handling this beastly weapon, but I don't think I'll ever fire one.

Don't be silly. If you (or anyone else reading this) is ever in the HSC/Shirley area, you are welcome to try mine. I'll supply the ammo.

 

[Hoover]

Don't judge. Nobody thinks they're inexperienced if they've been shooting for a while. These guns are different. This is almost certainly an accident born out of the inexperience of both the gun owner and shooter. There but for the grace of God go I.

Yes.

 

[Apathesis]

Don't be silly. If you (or anyone else reading this) is ever in the HSC/Shirley area, you are welcome to try mine. I'll supply the ammo.

Cool. Thanks.

One of these days I'll actually use my membership instead of spending all of my spare money on more handguns. I have a pistol fetish my wage can't support

 

[soloman02]

When I took the NRA Basic Pistol (wow, its now been like 6 years, damn time flies), I was still a rather inexperienced shooter. I had owned a handgun (gift from Dad) for two years but hadn't shot it much.

At the end of the class (second day) after we all passed the test and the practical portion, the instructors supplied their own personal firearms for us student to try.

Someone there has a micro 1911 in .45 ACP. I don't remember the brand but it had a 3 inch barrel and was all aluminum (except the slide). Suffice to say, it was wicked light. The gun I owned was actually a .45, it was the Ruger P345. And while it had recoil, it was manageable due to the way Ruger designed it.

I loaded two rounds. I was not informed ahead of time the level of recoil. As a result, the first shot had the handgun's barrel parallel to my head pointing at the ceiling (Memory is slightly foggy, at the very least at an extreme angle, over 70 degrees) and the ejected brass casing hit me square on the forehead. I recovered and the next shot was much better since I was prepared for the recoil.

But things could have ended very badly and thankfully they did not. I still shoot .45.

I am much more experienced since then, but I am no master. I am well versed enough to instruct new shooters safely though. I always pay special attention to female shooters since they always hold the gun improperly and have a poor stance. And they always arch their backs away from the gun instead of leaning into it. I make sure to have them in one of the three stances (whichever feels good to them) and to lean forward. And I always make sure to correct their grip, no matter whether they are shooting a 22 or more.

I do not own a high caliber handgun (I have a .45 thats the highest). Someday I'll shoot one, but I doubt I'll own one. I am a bit recoil sensitive in that I don't like high recoil.

ETA: I forgot that I have fired my brothers 44 mag. The heaviness of the gun absorbed a lot of the recoil. But I imagine a 500 recoil is orders of magnitude more.

 

[ccm75]

Sad... ,So this on Youtube before .

Wow. Where'd that 2nd round go?

 

[GJH86]

Generous offer Eddie...always wanted to give one of those a try ...maybe the 1 round rule has something to it.

 

[scatter]

Don't be silly. If you (or anyone else reading this) is ever in the HSC/Shirley area, you are welcome to try mine. I'll supply the ammo.

Thank you. I hope to do that some day before we get out of here next year. We've got a Dan Wesson 44 mag, which packs a pretty good punch, but I've never felt like it was overpowering my ability to control it. My son, and (minuscule but strong) daughter fired it too. Really interested in how much harder the 500 flips. Had a chance to shoot one at the S&W range a couple of years ago, but they wanted $5 per round IIRC and we passed.

 

[soloman02]

Wow. Where'd that 2nd round go?

Straight up. If you start and stop the video fast enough you can see it. Barely.

 

[jibbr71]

Wow. Where'd that 2nd round go?

Cuba, Canada, or in the pacific.....assuming they're in the southwest, judging by the scenery


Sent from my phone....which isn't really a phone anymore, it's a computer on my pocket

 

[falcon123]

Awful. Never shot one, but I've heard you only load 1 until you can handle the recoil. I guess this is why?

I shot one last weekend and it had one hell of a kick.

 

[chinalfr]

Don't be silly. If you (or anyone else reading this) is ever in the HSC/Shirley area, you are welcome to try mine. I'll supply the ammo.

I took your offer & my SW 500 collection ever since multiplies.

Sent from my Tinfoil hat

 

[Palladin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBqZ62JpgHo

 

[groundscrapers]

Don't be silly. If you (or anyone else reading this) is ever in the HSC/Shirley area, you are welcome to try mine. I'll supply the ammo.

Some day I may take you up on that. I also have a bag of S&W brass to give you for that and you're the only person I know of in MA loading it.

 

[rudiewhitebwoy]

Awful. Never shot one, but I've heard you only load 1 until you can handle the recoil. I guess this is why?

I don't think it's much worse than a 45 ACP. I've fired the one up at Bob's before and after the guy committed suicide with it.

 

[Fixxah]

Wow. Where'd that 2nd round go?

Up.

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.

 

[Quiet]

I don't think it's much worse than a 45 ACP. I've fired the one up at Bob's before and after the guy committed suicide with it.

Have you watched the videos?

I haven't shot one either. Not sure I want to risk flaring up my arthritis... lol

 

[EddieCoyle]

I don't think it's much worse than a 45 ACP.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ....OK... Wait.... OK... Ok.. wait...


HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH ..... OK.... whew....


yeah, .... um....

ahem....


It's worse.